Biggest stock movers today: NVDA, CRM, AFRM, and more

Stock futures were trading slightly higher on Thursday morning as investors digested a range of tech earnings ahead of a series of key economic data releases later today.

Here are some of Thursday’s biggest stock movers:

Biggest stock gainers

• Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) shares surged 5% after the cloud computing giant reported Q2 results and guidance that exceeded expectations, coupled with a management change. For Q3, Salesforce anticipates adjusted EPS between $2.42 and $2.44, with a midpoint of $2.43 slightly above the consensus of $2.42, while projecting sales of $9.31B to $9.36B, with a midpoint of $9.335, just below the $9.4B estimate. The company maintained its FY2025 sales outlook at $37.7B to $38B, falling short of the $38.05B estimate, but raised its EPS guidance to $10.03 to $10.11 per share, surpassing the $9.89 consensus. Additionally, Salesforce increased its operating cash flow growth guidance range to 23%-25% from 21%-24% and its adjusted operating margin guidance to 32.8% from 32.5%. In a separate announcement, Salesforce disclosed that CFO Amy Weaver will be leaving the company but will remain in her role until a successor is appointed.
• Affirm Holdings (NASDAQ:AFRM) shares surged 18% after the company’s FQ4 earnings and revenue surpassed Wall Street expectations, with the company also projecting it will achieve operating income profitability by the end of its next fiscal year. Known for its “Buy Now, Pay Later” financing, Affirm anticipates FQ1 gross merchandise volume (GMV) to reach $7.1B-$7.4B, exceeding the Visible Alpha estimate of $7.00B, along with Q1 revenue of $640M-$670M, above the $625.0M consensus, and an adjusted operating margin of 14%-16%, compared to 22.7% in FQ4. Additionally, Affirm expects to achieve GAAP operating income profitability in Q4 of FY2025. For FY 2025, the company has guided to GMV exceeding $33.5B, outpacing the $32.3B Visible Alpha estimate, with an adjusted operating margin above 18.4% and revenue as a percentage of GMV at least 10 basis points higher than FY 2024.

Biggest stock losers

• Nvidia’s (NASDAQ:NVDA) stock price fell over 3% following the release of its Q2 financial report. Despite surpassing expectations with a 122% Y/Y increase in revenue and the announcement of a $50B share buyback program, the company’s Q3 outlook dampened investor enthusiasm. Nvidia projected Q3 revenue to reach $32.5B, with a +/-2% variance, falling short of the consensus estimate of $31.71B. Additionally, the company anticipates GAAP and non-GAAP gross margins to be 74.4% and 75.0%, respectively, with a +/-50 basis point deviation.
• Okta (NASDAQ:OKTA) shares declined nearly 8% despite the security software company exceeding Q2 results, as it issued mixed guidance, citing a “challenging macro environment.” The company maintained a cautious outlook, factoring in potential impacts from the October 2023 security incident, where a hacker accessed Okta’s support system using a stolen credential. For Q3, Okta expects adjusted EPS of $0.57 to $0.58 on revenue of $648M to $650M, slightly above the consensus estimates of $0.56 per share on $638.98M in revenue. Okta also raised its FY2025 revenue outlook to $2.555B-$2.565B, up from a previous range of $2.53B-$2.54B, exceeding the $2.54B consensus estimate. Additionally, the company now projects adjusted EPS of $2.58 to $2.63, higher than the prior range of $2.35 to $2.40, surpassing the $2.42 consensus estimate.